Deputy Chief Dave Hopkins said the case is under investigation, but no new leads have surfaced.

Katonka Friar, Natasha’s ex-husband and Katarion’s father, was among the onlookers at the scene of the 4:30 a.m. fire three years ago. He was arrested that morning on stalking charges, crimes police said were committed between September 2010 and April 15, 2011.

In a letter mailed to the Register Star shortly after his arrest, Friar called himself a “scapegoat.”

“I never murdered my ex-wife or children, nor is there any evidence that links me to this crime,” he wrote. “But nevertheless, I have been here at the Winnebago County Justice Center since the day the incident occurred. I was placed in a camera cell in the segregation unit, nude, except for a ‘Ferguson suit’ (a suit worn by inmates who may be a danger to themselves) even after never stating I had suicidal intentions.”

In a subsequent phone conversation, Friar said he had been at Cleary’s residence April 17 but only after learning of the deaths. He denied stalking Cleary, offered an alibi detailing his whereabouts at the time of their deaths, and reiterated his desire to take a polygraph test.

The case against Friar was dropped in April 2013, and he was released from the Winnebago County Jail.

Police have submitted multiple pieces of charred evidence to a state crime lab but have yet to find anything linking the crime to a suspect.

A piece of evidence possibly taken from Cleary’s home was her bank debit card. The night after the slayings, police said a man tried to withdraw money from nearby Northwest Bank at 3106 N. Rockton Ave. A grainy black-and-white ATM photo showed a man wearing a knit ski hat that covered his head and face but not his eyes, nose and mouth. That individual has not been identified.

Each year since the deaths, Cleary’s family has staged a walk of remembrance starting on the bike path behind the downtown YMCA, 200 Y Blvd. Another walk is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, rain or shine, but this year’s will do more than bring attention to her family’s loss.

“This is also for the families in my (Winnebago County) Homicide Survivors’ Support Group,” Horton said. “There have been too many violent acts in Rockford, and there are families suffering. A parent should never have to bury their child or grandchildren.”

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Rockford Police Department, 815-987-5824, or Crime Stoppers, 815-963-7867.